Since the times of early artists, people have endeavored to create realistic likenesses of themselves, others, and other three-dimensional objects, to thereby impart a sense of presence. Such artistic reproductions have generally taken two dimensional forms, for example, paintings, and also three-dimensional forms, including various types of sculptures. In general, the two dimensional reproductions are insufficient in reproducing three dimensional presence having a large field of view; visual cues such as depth, shading and perspective have historically been impossible to reproduce in two dimensions to create a three dimensional illusion other than for a discrete viewing point.
Sculptures, on the other hand, have proved generally better at visually imitating original objects, because of their dimensionality. To this end, artists have for a long time created busts and other three-dimensional representations of original objects to recreate presence of the original object.
One method of forming these dimensional recreations is to create a negative bust as a mold to recreate a three-dimensional depiction. As was noticed long ago, the negative bust itself can be used (with proper lighting) to create a three-dimensional impression and to convey presence. Typically, these negative busts are concave viewing surfaces having the same depth and features (typically facial) of the original three-dimensional object. They provide the illusion that the objects are represented by the negative bust, and have a gaze which follows a viewer wherever he or she goes within a narrow field of view.
For example, Disneyland.TM. in Anaheim, Calif. has long used such an effect in its HAUNTED MANSION.TM. attraction. In this environment, a negative bust is set into a wall at the far end of a room through which guests will travel and to whom it is desired to impart special effects. Although preferably not noticeable by the guest, a perceived three-dimensional bust, depicting a person's head and face, are in reality part of the negative bust that is set into the wall. This bust, simply a mold formed from an original bust and having the same depth and features as the original bust, imparts the "gaze effect" that a perceived three-dimensional stone statuette turns to always face and look at each guest, no matter where they move within the narrow predefined field of view.
While the aforementioned special effects provided by negative busts are useful for their intended application, they have a narrow field of view, they do not typically realistically animate, they do not provide for the effect to extend beyond the negative relief, and they are not adaptable to different visages, and thus have a practical utility only where the desired character is predefined, static, the effect is restricted to the negative relief, and the field of view can be narrow.
With respect to the field of view, the gaze effect of the prior art busts has a limited effective viewing range. That is, due to their curvature, detailed features and depth, which model that of the original object, the special effects may only be viewed within a narrow angle 11, as illustrated in FIG. 1. As the viewer begins to move towards the periphery of the wedge-shaped viewing area, designated by the angle 2.theta., the viewer perceives an edge 12 of the negative mold 15, and realizes that the effect is caused by a negative mold and not by an actual three-dimensional object. For example, the angle 2.theta. of the HAUNTED MANSION.TM. bust is only fifty-five degrees, based upon a concave bust having dimensions and features corresponding to the head of an adult male human. A reverse bust novelty mask of a witch's face for Halloween made by Optic Images of Glendale, Calif. has been obtained and the gaze effect angle 2.theta. was forty degrees. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a negative bust effect in which the viewing angle for the guests is as large as possible. It is also desired that the negative illusion realistically animate, and provide for the effect to extend beyond the negative relief. In addition, it is intended that the negative relief be adaptable to different visages. The current invention solves these problems, and provides further related advantages.